Naruto: A little bolder
by FluffyCrocodiles
Summary: During the panic of the Kyuubi attack Danzō was left unattended and he took the chance to alter the academy curriculum. A drunk but well meaning chunin thought it could use some tuning up.
1. Chapter 1

This was a situation he could only dream of, nearly every shinobi in the village was helping evacuate the populace or stalling the Kyuubi's advance to the Hokage monument. Ergo, nearly every fortified or guarded portion of the village was left to do with as he wished. To anyone it was a golden opportunity, it was cause enough to smile if it didn't show a catastrophic security problem in the making. Ōhnoki would gladly wipe half of Iwagakure off the map if it would drop him into Konoha during this night. He would see to the security issues in about a month, his actions tonight would be too obvious if he did it sooner.

Danzō walked down the long hall with a satisfied glint in his eye. The dancing flames outside the windows cast soft orange light through them, the swallowing darkness in between the windows being the only breaks in the light. The muffled roar of the Kyuubi sounded down the hall, Danzō smirked to himself. The Kyuubi would be sealed tonight, by the Yondaime, Sandaime, or the Gama-Sennin's hands. An interesting morsel of information he received not three months ago let him know now who the Jinchuriki would be.

'Namikaze Naruto. . . Or perhaps Uzumaki' Danzō thought as he strolled down the hall. The Kyuubi vessel would be a tremendous asset down the line, it would not do to have a unused Jinchuriki. If perhaps by some tragic event, the knowledge of the boy's burden become commonplace, the civilian populace would fear and hate the young boy. Danzō would do his level best to comfort the boy when the treatment became too much for the boy to bare. As Danzō reached a window offering a surreal view of the great beast framed by the veritable pyres spotted around the village, he chuckled lightly. Yes. . . He would take the boy under his wing and help him understand the truths of the world.

Danzō turned away from the window, exactly 87 steps into the hall he turned to the wall to find a set of double doors. The dark oak doors were thrown open as people had rushed out to follow the orders given to them. As Danzō walked through the open doors he thumbed the file under his left arm, the slim pieces of paper were more dangerous to him than any blade. This was after all the first document he had written and signed, sans the obvious counsel-work, in over eighteen years. His everyday work was much too sensitive to put on paper. But this culmination of paper was hard-earned, he had lost just under two squads in various ways to get this done.

A masterful balance of favors, lying, blackmail, _persuasion,_ and promises had born this file. Blank pages with the approving signature of eight council members, in layman's terms enough to pass anything he penned on those blank pages. If he were a lesser man he would have drooled at the potential on those slips of paper. As it was, he had written an advanced academy curriculum that toed the line of child abuse, and would definitely receive some backlash from parents, and wouldn't survive a minute in the council-room. But it didn't have to, all he had to do was Place the file into the academy "in-box" and the Chunin teachers and administrative staff would do the rest for him.

To some, and even to himself sometimes it seemed like a wasted chance at nearly anything he wanted. But this would benefit Konohagakure as a whole, better Shinobi would take this village farther, and if those who failed the program made it into his ROOT program, he certainly wouldn't complain. Now to leave, he needed to make sure the clan children lost in the chaos were safe in his care after all, it wouldn't due to be late.

(~)

Izuku, after he finished drowning himself in sake to try to forget the horrors he saw not one hour ago, went back to his post. Sure he was drunk, but that wouldn't inhibit his duty! Besides, the only time anyone came to his desk was when village infrastructure changed (Only once in the past two decades after the Uchiha clan were moved to the edge of the village), or when the academy went through major overhauls, It was a strange mashup of responsibilities to be sure. Izuku stumbled towards his desk and stopped dead at the file on his desk. Did he leave that there? More importantly did he sanction that?

"Ooooooh shiiiiit, I'm going to. . To get d-demoted. Hehehehehe." The Chunin giggled as he hiccuped his way through the sentence, he was drunk on the job, he was technically on the clock. He was told he could go home but he just felt like thinking at his desk, now this was to be pushed through tomorrow morning, he had to go through this and verify it. All while drunk, this had the potential to ruin a generation of Shinobi. Knowing his luck, it'd do just that. . . shit. Izuku waddled to his desk and sat down slowly. His vision slowly closing up, he drank way too much. Cold water would help, Izuku rose again, only to look at the file sitting heavily in the basket.

Izuku fell back into the chair, he was losing focus. 'Finish this and then I am free for the day. . . night. . . whatever.' Izuku opened up the file and read through it at what he assumed was a brisk pace. An hour later he leaned back in his chair with a stupefied expression on his face as he asked himself. "What _is_ this?" The plan was great on paper, but there were these little snags that took the training too far or just didn't make sense. One good idea was for students to pair up for group scores that would be divided up based on personal performance. Which was great, but it had students stay with those partners the whole academy. However if the students switched partners every month or so it would not only promote teamwork with the entirety of the class (versus the standard three shinobi cells) but it would also give the students more chance to learn and help each other.

Izuku spun side to side in his chair as he thought about the documents in front of him. "I'll be demoted either way when Ishida sees me hungover, let's have some fun." Izuku took out a stack of paper from his left drawer and using the intuitive ability to copy handwriting available to Shinobi he adjust the documents as he saw fit. Izuku spent time long into the morning, daybreak was soon at hand, but he was finished. His drunkenness replaced only by a headache and a desire for water Izuku marvelled at the thing in front of him, at what he just did. Adjusting documents like this as the middle man was risky and fairly obvious but it actually cut _down_ funding with his additives and various cancellations. So there wouldn't really be a problem would there?

He had done enough so that the documents would pass muster. Izuku organized all the files and placed them in the metal basket on the left corner of his desk. He sighed as he got up and walked out the doors probably for the last time, he hated this job anyways. He had enough money saved up so he could survive without it. Izuku turned around and closed and locked the doors. He stared at the dark wood of the double doors for a few moments before he walked away feeling light. Now that he looked back some of those training drills we're cruel, no other way to say it. He had done right by the "King" of Konohagakure, the next generations would far surpass him now, and he couldn't feel better about it.

(~)

Three weeks, it was mesmerizing to him how the village had doggedly scraped through the loss. The mass funeral was grandiose and uplifting, the memorial stone had long since run out of room by the time the second great war rolled around. Instead now there were engraved names all along the base of the Hokage monument, the care the Carver took with each name was in of itself a graceful send-off. Sarutobi Hiruzen gazed up at the four great heads above him from the flat roof of the Hokage tower, soft puffs of smoke issued from his lips. The village looked up at those faces daily, it was a status reminder that he wished didn't exist at times. When people look up to you, it makes you look down at them after all. So every morning he walked to the base of the mountain to stare at those carved names on an equal setting, to remind himself that he wasn't a better person than anybody on that wall, just more powerful and with better teaching.

Hiruzen cast his brown eyes away from the monument and out towards his precious village. He brought his pipe to his lips and closed his eyes as he let the tobacco fill his lungs and sent a relaxing pressure to his mind. He let out the smoke as a short breeze carried it towards the west. Three weeks had passed and the rebuilding was well underway, he had seen to the construction of a secondary building for the hospital. He had to fight with all the grim determination he had adopted from the Nidaime to insure it was built before the thrashed marketplace. He shook his head, the merchants were remarkably effective at stopping him for a few days but he had put his foot down, lives came before gold. Hiruzen focused briefly on the empty Manor far away in the trees, he looked away as a flash of pain lanced through his heart.

He hadn't had the courage to go to that hallowed home, Biwako was gone, taken by the fox. He knew he would break down the moment he stepped foot in that place, he couldn't afford that right now, not with how things were. He straightened his posture as a group of Genin raced by on the rooftops below, then slouched slightly again as they crested his field of vision. He had to remain strong for the village, Kumogakure was stepping up their thinly veiled assaults on Konoha Shinobi cells. There were too many excuses of "conflicting mission objectives" for it to be anything else, the Sandaime Raikage was a brute in tactics but he made it work for his village had flourished under him. Konohagakure couldn't be seen as weak right now, the great bear to the north would attack. "Hokage-sama?" Hiruzen tilted his head back to peer at the Chunin behind him. "Ah Morita-kun! How can I help you?"

The mousy brown haired man smiled/grimaced at the aged Kage, "Shikaku-sama wishes to speak with you, it sounded urgent." The Kage's eyes snapped open at the wording as he turned to face the Chunin messenger. The man quickly understood how his message could be misconstrued, "Well. . . urgent in the normal laid-back way sir. Nothing earth shattering I assure you." Hiruzen discreetly let out a breath, Shikaku was only urgent when things were truly bad, he didn't think the village could take another decisive blow such as the Kyuubi right now. "That's good, thank you Morita please do insure that my advisors know I will be busy. I shall head off to see Shikaku then."

The brunette nodded and took off back into the bowels of the tower leaving him alone on the roof. He took a few moments to finish off the remaining tobacco from his pipe and popped a small mint into his mouth. Shikaku while he didn't say anything did look slightly peeved when his breath smelled of smoke. Hiruzen chuckled to himself as he vanished from place to the office of his Jounin commander. Said man was sitting behind his desk writing on a slim piece of paper used for hawk messaging, he looked up and reached out to gesture for the Kage to sit down. Hiruzen did so without hesitation, and occupied himself with looking at the man's newly taken family photo containing Shikaku, his wife Yoshino, and their newborn son Shikamaru.

Shikaku ran a palm down his scarred face as he finished the missive and sent it off with the hawk perched on his window sill. Then he sat back and looked at his leader, "I don't know where to start with this actually." Shikaku pointed to the stack of files on his desk, "Secure bases were raided during that night. We only just found out what they took, and who they killed." Hiruzen steeled his posture and gruffly asked, "Who and what Shikaku." "That old hellion Suzume." Hiruzen looked down for a moment, Suzume Takeshi was their premier creator of Katon jutsu. "Why did it take so long to notice her absence?"

Shikaku once again gestured to the stack of files on his desk. "Impersonation, some type of long lasting clone, the worst thing is that she went on a 'trip' a week ago. She could have given the information she stole to anyone, I know what you're going to say. Our trackers were busy with the Kiri Hunter squad skulking about near Outpost 37." Hiruzen sighed as he took in the rich tones of the wood around him, taking a moment to think he looked back at his chief strategist. "What is missing then?" Shikaku slouched more as he looked into the Kage's eyes. "A signature few jutsu, mission history of anything in the Ta no Kuni (Land of rice patties) area. Last and the worst, the old academy curriculum."

"The _old_ academy curriculum, you mean to tell me someone stole our wartime student plans!?" Shikaku shook his head, "No, and that is the problem. On October 11th, the academy went through an overhaul, it received full support for the change. Only I don't remember anything about this in _any_ council meetings. It just appeared in house fully signed." Hiruzen opened the file and read through it quickly, he was already preparing to shut it down in his head, but then he actually read through it. None of it was a bad idea, in fact he had wanted a harder curriculum for students for a while. He hadn't been able to because the civilians already found the current curriculum too hard.

But that still left something amiss, "Then why did our imposter steal that old plan versus this plan or the wartime plan?" "Our best theory is that the clone was ordered lazily, simply told to retrieve the old plans. It recognized that there was a change and it still completed its objective to get the old plan." Hiruzen thought on this for a while before saying carefully, "We got the better of this due to dumb luck and somebody making a restructure behind my back. I want a thorough sweep of all secure facilities don-" "Already done Hiruzen, two more clones were found. Inoichi is using them as a training exercise for Ibiki. Can't torture them physically for obvious reasons so psychological and chemical torture are their only options."

Shikaku sighed, "They haven't gotten anything yet, they are pulling 72 hour days to get this done." "How long have you sat on this information Shikaku?" Asked Hiruzen. The Nara clan head shrugged in an absent manner, "No more than a week, you were busy with the Uchiha backlash at the time." Both men sat in the uncomfortable wooden chairs and looked out into empty space thinking.

"What are we going to do about the academy Hiruzen?" The Sandaime Hokage waved a hand, "Trial it for a few years, it will help integrate the Uchiha back into the village at least." Shikaku nodded and picked up another sheaf of parchment and quickly jotted down the message and sent it to the academy. "I only hope this works out in the end." "I hope so too Shikaku, though only time will tell us." The two stared out at the small hawk flying away into the distance, carrying a message that would change the date of the world.


	2. Chapter 2

It only took four years before the tension between Kumo and Konoha became too much for either side to continue playing at peace. The Miyazaki massacre, a total of 146 deaths; 76 Kumo Shinobi, 43 Konoha Shinobi, and 23 bystanders, and the worst was an Iwa Genin team with their Jounin leader. Ōhnoki was fuming in his office, Hiruzen knew that for a fact. After all his second son was that very Jounin leader, thankfully it was well known a Kumo team killed the man.

It wouldn't be a great war, but Iwa was sending 10,000 men to Kumogakure's capital. Word was that the Raikage was going alone to take down the force, arrogant, but in the realm of possibility. But all this was over nothing but a stretch of fields on the north border. He couldn't quite help his dark humor, 'At least the fields will be well fertilized by all the corpses.' Hiruzen sighed and put down the report, at the very least it was proof that the academy was doing its job. The academy was now a four year program, so across all of Hi no Kuni (Land of Fire) Konoha and all her satellite villages had churned out 243 Shinobi this half year. Ergo 81 new Genin teams to manage.

Less than the last half year, but the _quality_ of Shinobi. Hiruzen couldn't help but smile at the jump this year made, he had reports of current Chunin struggling against a pair of newly minted Genin. The two's teamwork was said to be immaculate and they covered each other's flaws well. Yes he would be keeping his eyes on Izumo and Kotetsu. Along that line of thought, the class itself was a very tightly knit group, they had a bond that came with the struggle they faced. He had high hopes that this wasn't a fluke, and that this was the way things were going to be.

He wouldn't be able to tell until he personally knew someone before and after schooling. Thankfully he had just the person to test that way, little Naruto was laying prone under the coffee table practicing his Kanji. The blond child was a pleasure to be around as his sunny disposition and looks were coupled well with his excess of energy. He had a shrewd mind for a child and picked up the little details a great deal of the time. He got it from his father, and from his mother, the boy carried her determination and combined with that little bit of childish ego we all had in the beginning gave the boy a never say die attitude. People loved him, he had taken steps to assure that yes, but it really was Naruto that made it happen. Those steps however were a hassle to take.

It started when he had tracked down the perpetrator of the ghosted curriculum, he found Danzō at the end. The war hawk had been quite surprised all things told, as it was illegal he could have executed Danzō. However they knew each other too well for that, instead he had given Danzō a deal. Danzō now had free reign of a maximum of 250 B-rank shinobi and up for the much messier work even Anbu couldn't be seen doing, in return Danzō would tell him everything. Of course Hiruzen didn't fully trust his old friend so there were more than a few moles and information taps. Such a precaution had come in handy very quickly, Danzō had planned to release Naruto's Jinchuriki status.

That obviously couldn't be allowed, he had threatened Danzō but the man was stubborn and he knew even if Danzō said he wouldn't, he'd still go and do it. So he did something else, he told Danzō to wait until the boy started the academy. Danzō agreed to that as long as he could have his previous Ne (Root) operatives back from when the Yondaime shut him down. Once the agreement was made, Hiruzen thrust Naruto into the limelight, taking him as his adopted grandson. He hoped to show Naruto in a favorable enough light that his status wouldn't matter to anyone when the time came.

"Hey Jiji! You're thinking too much again." The boy spoke while frowning down at the paper with his tongue stuck out in a childish show of concentration. Hiruzen chuckled and picked up his hat from the desk, "Thank you Naruto, I'm glad to have you to keep me focused." The small child looked up with a megawatt grin as he finished his Kanji assignment. "You're welcome Jiji, hey I'm done with Ebisu-sensei's assignment can I go play at the park?" Hiruzen made a show of thinking as he glanced sidelong at the child.

"I don't know Naruto, Ebisu tells me you haven't been paying very much attention to him during sessions." It was a bit unfair to the child to say this as the boy already had exceptional handwriting, of course he wouldn't pay very much attention. The child shot out from under the coffee table in the middle of the room with fire in his cerulean eyes. "Oi Jiji you promised I could go play with my friends when I finished!" Hiruzen smiled at the boy, "I suppose I did, and what do we always keep?" The boy calmed slightly and with a smirk thumped his chest. "We always keep our promises!"

Hiruzen Looked over the boy and gave a nod at the Shinobi-esque ensemble. Black pants and running shoes with an earthy brown short sleeved shirt, the boy favored long sleeves but it was too hot for that. "Okay, be home before 6:30 for dinner okay?" The boy nodded and shot out of the office, Hiruzen waved a hand towards the door as he spoke. "Inu, follow him and try to get him to sense you." A silver haired man materialized from the shadows above and asked? "Have him sense me Hokage-sama?"

Hiruzen nodded, "A training method from my days, localize your chakra presence to target him only. It helps with chakra sensing on his part, and is a chakra control exercise for you. Now go." The Anbu nodded and shimmered in place before vanishing from the eyes. Kakashi would look after the boy, not only because of personal investment but also because of his duties, the teenage prodigy needed a break but he wouldn't stop working. So minor jobs were the only way to get the boy to rest. Now to get back to work, there was trouble on the horizon. Kumo was at the center of it all, they had pissed off two of the great five, he would do his all to prepare.

(~)

The four (and three quarter!) year old Naruto ran down the minutely busy side street towards the Senju playground. The history behind it was what drew him to it more than the other playgrounds, it was named after one of the founding clans of Konohagakure. He had always wanted to be a Shinobi ever since he had begun to understand what it was that his clan did. He went by Uzumaki Naruto but he was the adopted Scion of the Sarutobi clan. He was basically the emergency heir in case Asuma-oji and little Konohamaru died.

He didn't think on that very often though, he was still his parent's child (though he didn't know their names). His Jiji had told him stories about them ever since he could understand what he was saying. His dad was an exceptional Shinobi with a great deal of charisma, though Jiji did say he was a bit daft with any interaction with girls. His Mom was a kick-ass Kunoichi, Jiji was honest when he said she _sucked_ at Genjutsu but excelled at Nin, Tai, and especially Kenjutsu. He knew it would be easiest to follow in her footsteps given his surplus of chakra. But he wanted to also be good at something his dad was also amazing at, so he turned to his dad's apparent escapades in Fuinjutsu.

Fuinjutsu was his heritage, the stories his Jiji told him about the Uzumaki started with their tragic end at the hands of Kumo, Iwa, and Mizu. But as he travelled further back in time via his grandfather's voice he understood why they were hunted down. Fuinjutsu was capable of nearly anything one put their mind to from the mundane explosive tags, to blood tied security fields. Naruto just called it awesome to put it in fewer words. But back to the main point was that the Uzumaki were the number one experts on the subject, he was a half Uzumaki so he humbly decided to be the best in Konoha. Jiji had told him it would be hard and the old man hadn't been wrong about anything yet. So he would train extra hard so he could be the number one expert.

As he ran Naruto had to dodge to the side of a rather out of place cabbage cart in the middle of the alley. He was about to continue on before a familiar voice grabbed his attention. "Kaa-chan we're going to be late!" Naruto skidded to a stop and bolted towards the voice, "Kiba!" Said boy swiveled around to face the blonde. "Naruto! I thought you were going to be busy until really late." Naruto shook his head as he caught his breath for a few seconds. "I finished early, let's go! I want to beat Sasuke to the hill." Kiba nodded and tugged on his mother's wrist. The feral woman looked away from the woman she was talking with to her son.

The feral woman spoke with a surprisingly sweet tone despite her gravelly voice. "What do you need Kiba?" The shaggy haired boy bounced on his heels and pointed at one of his first (non Inuzuka) friends. "Can I just run to the park? Naruto will be with me so it will be safe!" Tsume gained a smirk at the relatively tall blond, "Safe with this runt?" Naruto pointed his finger out at the woman as he shouted, "Oi Tsume-oba do you want to fight!?" The woman barked a laugh and ruffled both children's hair, "Go on you tykes." Both kids began running from her towards the Nara compound. "KIBA!" The two boys stopped in place, "Go to the academy and pick up Hana when it gets out, got it?" "GOT IT KAA-CHAN!"

Tsume chuckled lightly as she shook her head. "They're too cute, anyways what were you saying Yoshino?" The Nara matriarch suppressed her uncomfortableness with a smile, "I was just talking about Miyazaki village." Tsume winced slightly, one of her clan was at the scene, Hiro was traumatized. "I hear the old fencesitter is going to war over his son." Yoshino tilted her head and nodded, "Shikaku is up in arms about it. He is looking at who will be the next Raikage." Tsume nodded, she would have to do the same. She'd been in too many battles with Shikaku to ever bet against his predictions.

"Ay, the Raikage's son. He went to to toe with Minato and has a good head on his shoulders. Easy choice." Tsume looked over at the familiar intruder of their conversation, "When did you get back Mikoto?" The woman looked at Tsume strangely, "It was only a quick trip to Takachiho, Fugaku had us move fast." Tsume nodded, "Did you know your kid is at _Senju_ park?" Mikoto laughed openly at that. "Oh you should have seen Fugaku's face at that. First thing when we get back is we're told that Sasuke is there by Itachi."

Both women snorted at that, "So Shikaku thinks the Raikage will die too huh?" Mikoto asked as she shifted the bag she held to her other hand. "I don't anybody outside of Kaminari no kuni (land of lightning) thinks he will survive." Yoshino said softly, "I just hope this doesn't escalate any farther, or at least happens without us taking part." Both women agreed fully, they parted ways then with promises to talk later.

(~)

"Hey Sasuke." The black haired boy looked over at the blond. "Yeah Naruto?" "Did you hear the Sandaime Raikage died?" Sasuke couldn't help rolling his eyes, "I don't think anybody in the world hasn't heard yet idiot." Naruto frowned as he thought about that but nodded eventually. "To die of exhaustion instead of wounds after facing 10,000 Shinobi. He was crazy strong." Sasuke nodded as he played with the grass in front of him, attempting to tie a knot his brother had showed him. "He was a Kage idiot, of course he's strong."

"Do you think Jiji could have beaten him?" Sasuke stopped short at that. The two shared a small silence before the dark haired boy nodded shakily. "I don't know, but Hokage-sama is super strong. Yeah, yeah! Sandaime-sama would wipe the floor with him." Naruto nodded at that and layed back on the grassy hill with a suspiciously smug grin. "But I bet Yondaime-sama could take them both with his hands tied behind his back!" Sasuke nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah but the Nidaime could beat the Yondaime."

Naruto shook his head, "No way Sasuke, the Yondaime was way stronger. He killed a Bijū, Nidaime-sama is strong but even he couldn't do that. Heck even the Shodaime couldn't do it. He just trapped them in his Mokuton and gave them to the other villages." Sasuke looked skeptical at that so spoke his mind. "Nidaime-sama never faced a Bijū Naruto, I bet if he did he could do it too." Naruto shook his head once again, "Nah, I don't think so." Sasuke was about to argue back that _yes_ the Nidaime was awesome and could of course kill a Bijū but Naruto spoke first.

"Hey Neji, Hinata! Over here." The blond shouted as he waved his hand in the air to alert the two Haha cousins. Both black haired children sauntered over with Neji's father as their guard. "Hello Naruto, Sasuke." The ever polite Neji spoke as she smiled at his two friends. "Took you awhile guys, what happened?" Hizashi took the liberty to speak for the children. "Kumo has sent and ambassador to Konoha to formally introduce the Yondaime Raikage. Hiashi must be there to welcome them, we were just seeing him off."

Sasuke gave a short nod and turned his attention back on the series of knots he was making. Naruto however didn't let the subject die, "Ooooh, is the new Raikage strong, is he evil, is he a Ninjutsu expert or a Taijutsu expert or maybe a Genju-." Hizashi smiled at the boy as Hinata giggled at the puffing blond. "Slow down Naruto, to answer your questions. Ay the name of the Raikage is a Nin-Taijutsu expert. Yes he is very strong, he has fought the Yondaime-Hokage multiple times. As to the question of whether or not he is 'evil' as you say, we are finding that out via the ambassador's words."

(~)

Hiashi stopped writing for a moment as he heard a noise outside in the courtyard. While not uncommon at all for someone to talk a walk at this time it was the lack of a chakra presence that alerted him. The Noble clan of Hyuuga had always been strict, but such a thing as curfew among Shinobi was ridiculous. So instead something else was implemented, after 10:00 pm it was _strongly_ suggested that guests would broadcast their chakra. Instantly disproving that you were an infiltrator, after all what good was stealth when you basically yelled at the chakra sensitive. So Hiashi stood up from his home desk and activated his Byakugan.

Privacy among the Hyuuga clan was a non-entity, you saw under the clothes of your fellow classmates at first activation whether or not you wanted to. But there was courtesy, and intimate moments were done in the small hours of the morning when day broke. No one used the Byakugan at such hours, after all the main training exercise of the Hyuuga involved the night time. The Hyuuga compound held a total of 24 light sources, all in the guest house provided for the more important guests. All other Hyuuga facilities needed no such things, the Byakugan had no need of light to see. But even he needed to rest his eyes after having them activated for so long, the early morning was the perfect time to do so.

Hiashi quickly spotted the perpetrator, a short and stout man completely covered from head to neck in a tight armored clothing. He held a canvas bag over his right shoulder, the idea of it was novel. Trying to hide something from a Hyuuga with a cloth bag, laughable. Though the contents of said bag lit a fire under Hiashi as he bolted through the rice paper door to his office. He was a cold and distant man yes, as were all Hyuuga to those they don't know. But touch his daughters and there wasn't a Kage dead or alive able to stop him without killing him.

Hiashi sprinted towards the wall of his family's home and neatly leaped over the high wall. He spun in mid-air to latch himself upside-down on a rather large tree branch that hung over the wall. He dashed from branch to branch all while keeping his focus trained on the kidnapper. Hiashi quickly gained on the man as he was able to move faster, after all he _wanted_ to grab attention Once suitably close he leaped forward to land on his left foot swiftly using his right to take the legs out from under the man. Using his right hand Hiashi plucked his eldest daughter from the man's lose grip and spun so his back faced the man. Hiashi bent his knees and back to arch towards the fallen man and using his left hand slammed two fingertips on to the back of his neck. An audible snap reverberated around the wooded grove as the Kumo ambassador's vertebrae became powder in his neck.

Already being turned from the man Hiashi walked away while the Anbu swarmed in. He quickly cut the bag open with a chakra blade and held his daughter close as he began the short walk to the compound. He noticed now that Hinata gave a small snore every so often, 'Forced sleep then, I'm glad it's not a paralysis.' An Anbu strolled up beside him, the Kunoichi's hair was a rather bright purple. "Hiashi-sama, Hokage-sama wishes to speak to you as soon as you attend to Hinata-sama." Hiashi gave a controlled nod as he fastened his pace, he would also inform the elders before hurrying off to meet the Sandaime.

(~)

The Konoha council-room was a cacophony of noise as the more outspoken among them yelled out what they thought should be done. Hiruzen let it wash over him, picking out the small pieces of advice that could be gleaned from the words. But it was futile to scream about, the Yondaime Raikage had them right where he wanted them. Upon inspection it was learned that the Kumo ambassador had somehow escaped the monitored hotel he stayed at without notice. That in and of itself was toeing the line of legality of contract Shinobi guests had to sign.

The man had then gone on a merry jaunt through the silent Chunin break room, not a file in the place was still there. Last and certainly the worst was the attempted kidnapping of the Hyuuga Scion Hinata. He didn't understand why they did it at first, Kumo had already dug a deep enough grave for itself, why would they then do this? The Raikage had then sent a message via the near instant communication highway set up by Amegakure. Hanzo Hattori was thinking ahead when he made it, Ame had stations all across the world that Shinobi delivered to each other to create a fast track message system. It was well known the price for a speedy delivery was the knowledge they were sending.

The Raikage's words were simple, in layman's terms it read. 'The ambassador was on standing orders to communicate my ascension to the Raikage title. Jounin Mutsuo Toi's actions were not ordered and Kumo will not take responsibility.' The man also had the gall to ask for compensation for the loss, with all out war as the alternative. They wanted the perpetrator, ergo they wanted the Hyuuga clan head.

Tsume, ever the outspoken one during these stuffy meetings shouted out what she thought. "We can't just let this fucker walk all over us like this." Hiruzen sighed as he leaned back in his chair, "Tsume what would you have me do? Go to war over petty blackmail? He has our hands bound behind our backs." Tsume huffed and sagged into her chair. The aged Kage looked up at the dark shadowed masks dotted around ceiling. Hiashi took the time to speak. "He only asked for the killer, does he truly know who did the act?"

Hiruzen nodded slowly, "Yes, he listed your name specifically in the message." Hiruzen held up his hand to dispel the shouting that was sure to start. "The leak has fled the village, we believe that this was his only purpose." Hiashi scowled as he glared into empty space. The room was silent as they waited for their Kage to speak his decree. "Call the bluff Hiruzen." Every pair of eyes swing over to Danzō when he spoke.

Hiruzen raised a grey brow at his old teammate, 'Danzō usually keeps quiet during these meetings. What are you thinking?' The grizzled war hawk took a moment to look around at the assembled Shinobi. "To those not in the know, it was a near hostile succession." _That_ raised a few brows, not just because of the information but just who was sharing it. Danzō trained his remaining eye onto the Kage sitting a few seats away. "The Sandaime Raikage passed on the title before he left for his final battle. The trouble is that no one but the new Yondaime heard him speak those words. Even if Kumo's war council was considering him a candidate, he had already declared himself Raikage to the Daimyo before they had agreed."

Shikaku looked somewhat pleased by the news. "They have a disjointed succession. Would the war council even support him if he tried to declare war on us?" The question went up with a smirk as Shikaku thought about the circumstances. Hiruzen himself gained a rather large smile at the news, it looked like giving Danzō Ne back was already paying dividends. "With that bit of knowledge this has become a much easier decision. We will ignore the Raikage's demands. This is your Kage's decree. Dismissed."

 **(~)**

 **This fanfiction is something of a cross between my desires for a Harry Potter fanfic and a Naruto fic.** **I want to have the focus on the academy like I would Hogwarts _classes_ , people focus very heavily on the story after the academy that they show very little development of characters through that time period. I wanted to see how it would go if I focused very heavily on the academy while showing all the behind the scenes with the adults. I can only hope it turns out as well as I seem to think it will.**

 **NaruHinaf: Thank you for your kind words and taking the time to review. I hope to be able to continue to deliver work on a fairly loose schedule so your wish for more shall come true.**


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